FBI should say what it knows about Trump’s Russia ties: Clinton camp

WASHINGTON: A top aide to Hillary Clinton urged the FBI to disclose what it knows about any ties between Donald Trump and Russia, accusing the agency of unfairly publicising its inquiry into Clinton’s email practices while staying quiet about the Republican presidential candidate.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation opened a preliminary inquiry in recent months into allegations that Trump or his associates might have had questionable dealings with Russian people or businesses, but found no evidence to warrant opening a full investigation, according to sources familiar with the matter. The agency has not publicly discussed the probe.

A week before Election Day, the Clinton campaign was trying to contain damage from the announcement by FBI Director James Comey on Friday that his agency was looking into newly discovered emails that might relate to Clinton’s use of a private server while she was secretary of state.

Clinton has voiced confidence the FBI will not find anything problematic.

She campaigned on Tuesday in the battleground state of Florida, where she was joined in Dade City by former Miss Universe Alicia Machado, whom Trump had mocked for gaining weight. Chants of “Lock her up!” from dozens of Trump supporters gathered nearby could be faintly heard while Clinton spoke.

In Ft. Lauderdale, a young man who yelled, “She’s a liar” was escorted out of the rally. Several other protesters removed during the course of her speech.

“I am sick and tired of the negative, dark, divisive, dangerous vision and behaviour from people who support Donald Trump,” Clinton said as another protester was removed from the rally.

Trump and other Republicans have seized on Comey’s announcement, which did not indicate any wrongdoing by Clinton, to ratchet up criticism of the Democratic candidate. She leads in most opinion polls ahead of the Nov. 8 election.

Trump urged people on Tuesday who voted early for his Democratic rival to cancel their ballots and switch to him.

“This is a message for any Democratic voters who have already cast their ballots for Hillary Clinton and who are having a bad case of buyer’s remorse, in other words you want to change your vote,” Trump told a Wisconsin rally.

“So if you live here or in Michigan or Pennsylvania or Minnesota, you can change your vote to Donald Trump.”

Several states, including those cited by Trump, have a process to allow voters who cast early ballots to change their votes, either by submitting new ballots or showing up at their polling place on Election Day.

‘Connections to the Russians’

Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook questioned why the FBI director had not released any information about the agency’s Russia inquiries.

“If you’re in the business of releasing information about investigations on presidential candidates, release everything you have on Donald Trump. Release the information on his connections to the Russians,” Mook said on CNN.

The FBI inquiry reviewed allegations that Trump or his associates might have violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act or engaged in contacts or commerce with people in Russia who are subject to the US or international financial sanctions.

The US government has blamed Russia for cyber attacks on Democratic Party organisations. Democrats criticise Trump for taking what they say is a pro-Russia foreign policy stance.

Russia’s possible role in the campaign again came into focus when online magazine Slate said a group of computer scientists had been alarmed by records showing thousands of apparent connection attempts between an email server operated on behalf of the Trump Organization and computers inside a Russian company, Alfa Bank in Moscow.

Trump campaign spokeswoman Hope Hicks said the server, which had been used to send out hotel marketing material, had been dormant for years.

Prominent US cyber security company FireEye said it had been hired by Alfa Bank to investigate the records and had been granted access to the bank’s systems in Moscow to look for evidence of any relationship with Trump’s company or any signs of hacking or infection. FireEye said so far it had found no emails being sent back and forth or any other link.